The Delhi High Court has observed that expansion of medical infrastructure was important to meet the growing need of qualified doctors and qualified colleges should not be deprived of the opportunity to increase the strength of medical professionals as it allowed a college in Tamil Nadu to conduct NEET examinations. Permission was given to increase the number of students. -UG 2022.
The high court made this observation while considering a petition by the Tamil name Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College and Hospital, which had raised the issue of denial of the request to increase the number of students from 150 to 250.
It directed the authorities to permit the college to take admission of 250 students in the ongoing counseling of NEET-UG 2022 for MBBS course and said that they would issue necessary instructions immediately and communicate the order to the competent authority/body of the Government of Tamil Nadu. will inform. To add 250 seats to its seat matrix.
“To meet the growing need for more qualified doctors to serve the country’s population, expansion of medical infrastructure is critical, and therefore, the role of regulatory bodies like the NMC (National Medical Commission) is unquestionably crucial. To ensure that there is no deterioration in the quality of medical education, the authorization process must be followed really strictly,” said Justice Sanjiv Narula.
The petition had sought a direction to the NMC to issue approval letters with regard to the college’s application for 250 students per year from the academic year 2021-22.
Advocate T Singhdeo, representing the NMC, submitted that there was a surprise inspection of the college by the commission and the college’s request could only be processed for 200 seats.
The counsel for the college submitted that the institute is all set to increase to 250 seats and if permission is not given for the same, it will be a huge waste of resources.
They argued that there was a deliberate attempt on the part of the authorities to deprive them of this benefit.
On the directions of the court, the NMC filed an affidavit highlighting the deficiencies which, according to them, hindered the granting of 250 seats to the college.
In its affidavit, the NMC accepted and affirmed that the relaxation of up to five per cent in faculty strength is applicable to the petitioner college, however, it argued that if the existing facilities available with the institute are considered for 250 seats, The shortage of faculty will be filled. 0.49 per cent to 6.9 per cent, which is above the permissible limit of five per cent.
The High Court observed that under the scheme of the National Medical Commission Act, no medical college can increase its seats without obtaining prior approval from the Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB).
For the purpose of permitting, MARB is entitled for evaluation/inspection of such colleges to the benchmark prescribed in law for the evaluation of their performance, it noted.
“Indeed, in matters of medical education, it is not for the court to appeal the findings of an expert body in respect of deficiencies found in an educational institution; But when it is demonstrated that the respondent-authorities have disregarded the extant rules, it is incumbent upon the court to intervene and rectify the injustice thus caused,” it said.
The court confirmed an interim order dated March 30, 2022, and held that the college was entitled to increase its seats to 200 seats for the academic year 2021-22.
Regarding the academic session of 2022-23, the court said that since the decision of the NMC to deny increase in seats is based on retrospectively irrelevant considerations and ignorance of relevant materials, it is open to this court to exercise its jurisdiction under Art. An appropriate case to use. 226 of the Constitution and issue a writ of mandamus for the performance of the discretion given to the NMC to prevent injustice to the petitioner.
“Since no other impediment has come to the fore in the facts of the case, there is no need to direct the NMC/MARB to re-inspect the petitioner college as it satisfies all the parameters established under the extant rules. Accordingly, the present The petition is allowed…,” the High Court said.
“Though Singhdeo has been of great help to the court, the attitude displayed by the NMC remains highly questionable”, the court said.
“Instead of assisting the court, the additional affidavit filed as per the directions of the court has presented non-existent lacunae, based on false and incorrect facts, in an attempt to deprive the college of the relief for which it seeks entitled under the law.
“The NMC should not shirk its responsibility to maintain the accuracy of the facts/information presented in the court. With regard to the circumstances mentioned above, the Chairman of the NMC is directed to inquire into the circumstances which resulted in falsification of facts. Additional affidavit was filed and appropriate action was taken.
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